News Flashes

CloudJumper, a Workspace as a Service (WaaS) platform provider for agile business IT, is releasing a business-class Streaming App Services platform, offering a flexible application and data delivery for cloud-forward independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs).

Pure Storage, an all flash storage platform, is releasing portfolio updates, developing a new vision for how businesses can implement a data strategy. Pure Storage is expanding its FlashArray product line to now deliver cost-effective all-NVMe Shared Accelerated Storage for every workload.

Oracle recently announced general availability of Oracle Application Express (APEX) 18.1, a low-code rapid application development platform that can run in any Oracle Database and is included with every Oracle Database Cloud Service. APEX enables users to develop, design, and deploy data-driven desktop and mobile applications using only a browser.

Information Builders, a provider of business intelligence, analytics, and data management solutions, has launched an enhanced version of iWay 8, its suite of solutions for real-time data integration and management. New advancements to Information Builders' solution address modern data integration requirements and enable businesses to tap into data from emerging technologies and sources.

GoodData, a provider of embedded and distributed analytics, has launched GoodData Spectrum, a suite of user interface (UI) capabilities to help deliver the right insights to line-of-business users at their point of work.

Looker, a data platform provider, is releasing new tools and integrations to optimize data science workflows. Looker is improving its governed data workflow with an SDK for R and connections for Python, as well as streamed and merged results, Google TensorFlow integrations, and clean, visual recommendations for users.

SQream, developer of SQream DB, a GPU database for analyzing large data stores, has raised $26.4 million in a Series B funding round led by Alibaba Group with participation from existing and new investors, including Hanaco Venture Capital, Sistema.vc, World Trade Ventures, Paradiso Ventures, Glory Ventures, and Silvertech Ventures.

At GTC Taiwan today NVIDIA introduced HGX-2, a unified computing platform for both artificial intelligence and high performance computing. According to NVIDIA, the HGX-2 cloud server platform provides unique flexibility to support the future of computing, enabling high-precision calculations using FP64 and FP32 for scientific computing and simulations, while also providing FP16 and Int8 for AI training and inference. The result is a level of versatility that meets the requirements of the growing number of applications that combine HPC with AI, according to the company.

Reltio, provider of a self-learning data platform, has secured a $45 million Series D investment to accelerate innovation, fuel international expansion, and ramp support for global enterprise customers. With current investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA) leading this round, and participation from other existing investors, Crosslink Capital, .406 Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures, Reltio has now raised $117 million in total.

SolarWinds is making a series of updates to its network management product portfolio, allowing the platform to support networks up to four times larger. This improvement makes it easy to consolidate monitoring solutions to a single provider enterprise-wise, and gives IT professionals' far greater flexibility to scale up and support larger data center networks as workloads increase, or scale out to address complex distributed networks.

Cloud-driven automation is creating the need for an evolution throughout IT and the enterprise. DBTA recently held a webcast featuring Joe McKendrick, independent analyst and author, and Maria Colgan, Oracle master product manager, who examined how cloud is driving change and how Oracle can help.

Silicon Valley has achieved an almost mythical status in both modern American popular culture as well as the annals of world economic history, write Michael Corey and Don Sullivan in a new Big Data Quarterly article.

Paul Sonderegger, senior data strategist, Oracle, looked at the way data technologies are evolving to help organizations extract more value from the wealth of data being collected during a keynote at Data Summit 2018.

Today, it is not enough to understand what happened, organizations want to have a view of what is happening now so they can impact the future. At Data Summit, Dan Potter, vice president of product management and marketing, Attunity, looked at what it takes to become a real time enterprise and the role of change data capture in enabling the transformation.

Today, data is increasingly seen as the fuel of the business, rather than its byproduct. As a result, the old adage "garbage in, garbage out" couldn't ring truer when it comes to maximizing the value of machine learning in the enterprise, according to Steve Zisk, senior product marketing manager of RedPoint Global, which provides a customer data platform and engagement hub.

For many businesses, data and artificial intelligence pose opportunities but also risk. Hadley Reynolds, co-founder of the Cognitive Computing Consortium, presented a keynote looking at the ramifications of AI and cognitive computing and showcased an open reference framework jointly developed by the consortium with Babson College's technology management program.

Staying on top of software licensing was hard when everything was under one roof, and now, with cloud deployments proliferating, it has gotten much more difficult. That was the message from Michael Corey, co-founder of LicenseFortress, who presented a session at Data Summit 2018 titled "Straight Talk on the Software License Landscape in the Cloud" in which he shared advice on how to stay in compliance with software licensing in an increasingly hybrid world.

Data Summit attendees learned about cognitive computing and how much AI will disrupt the big data space, why blockchain is the next big thing, the importance of GDPR, and more. During the closing keynote for Data Summit 2018, Joe Caserta, founder and president of Caserta, a data analytics consulting and implementation firm, looked toward the future in his presentation titled, "What Does the Data Tell Us?"

Pick Cloud and Rocket Software will present a webinar focused on how to use D3 Hot Backup with the Google Cloud Platform to ensure MultiValue users are covered in case of a disaster. D3 Hot Backup can save the business in the event of a disaster, and a cloud solution can make it easier to maintain mission-critical operations.

Kore Technologies, a provider of enterprise integration and eCommerce solutions, is releasing version 4.5 of Kourier Integrator Data Management, further enhancing cloud capabilities. Users will see new benefits for Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. The update provides enhanced functionality and higher performance when doing integration and data warehousing with Microsoft SQL Server in the cloud.

In an upcoming webinar with DBTA, Revelation Software will present an overview covering the latest updates to OpenInsight. OI 10 has been re-engineered for 64-bit in this new release. Revelation has rewritten nearly every bit of code in the product, from the interface with the user, to the reporting tools, to the speed of the indexing routines.

SAP is boosting its S/4 HANA platform with a round of updates that will unlock new ERP scenarios and strengthen AI. With the 1805 release of SAP S/4HANA Cloud SAP is unlocking 12 new AI-powered scenarios — nine machine learning scenarios and three SAP CoPilot-powered conversational UI scenarios.

Accenture is collaborating with SAP SE to develop an intelligent entitlement-management solution that helps high-tech companies create and scale new digital business models. The new solution, SAP Entitlement Management, will help companies dynamically change individual customer access rights and other entitlement attributes, as well as install renewal-automation capabilities, so they can rapidly deploy new offerings and more-flexible pricing structures.

Digitization is transforming business faster than ever before—with software and technology now deeply ingrained in the core of organizations' operations and business functions, rather than siloed in IT. While companies reap the benefits of digital transformation, not every organization is prepared for the double-edged sword that comes with the widespread implementation of software and technology: audits.

In financial services, the ability to spot fraud faster can be a key differentiator. At Data Summit 2018, Karun Komirishetty, senior manager, Software Engineering, Capital One, presented a session on how Capital One has created a fraud engine for Zelle payments, which are replacing traditional forms of payments such as checks, cash, and credit cards.

Blockchain is more than just a new buzzword. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is most commonly known for enabling the cryptocurrencies and payment networks. Gurdeep Kalra, principal consultant, Infosys, Srikanth Challa, senior director, Blockchain, Infosys Ltd., and Minollo(Carlo Innocenti), software architect, Oracle, presented their session, "Blockchain 101 with Oracle Cloud" during Data Summit 2018.

Machine learning can be applied to sentiment analysis of unstructured data in the context of social media. As more and more people tap into social media tools to voice positive and negative opinions, it's important to predict a social media "crisis" before one occurs.

DataOps is emerging as a methodology for data scientists, developers, and other data-focused professionals to enable an agile workflow while also adhering to data governance requirements. Kellyn Pot'Vin-Gorman, Technical Intelligence Manager, Delphix, presented her session, "Making Big Data Bite-Size with DataOps" on Wednesday, May 23, 2018 during Data Summit 2018. Pot'Vin-Gorman discussed how to move from simple DevOps with tools and automation, while making the data central to the solution.

As organizations undergo digital transformation to analyze and query large amounts of data at high speeds, they are increasingly leveraging graph databases to illuminate information about connections. The result is that 2018 will be a big year for graph technology, according to Sean Martin, CTO of Cambridge Semantics, and Scott Heath, CRO, Expero.

Paul Sonderegger, senior data strategist, Oracle, looked at the way data technologies are evolving to help organizations extract more value from the wealth of data being collected during a keynote at Data Summit 2018.

Machine learning is changing the way we interact with things and each other. As artificial intelligence gains steam, what we know about the world is changing.John Duprey, senior architect, Thomson Reuters Labs' Center for AI & Cognitive Computing, Thomson Reuters, presented his session, "Reuters News Tracer: The Journalist Bot in Training" on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 during Data Summit 2018. Duprey explained how machine learning and AI is transforming how news is being reported.

Confluent, a provider of a streaming platform based on Apache Kafka, has formed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to make Confluent Cloud available on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for mission-critical use cases, including event-driven applications, machine learning for advanced analytics and hybrid cloud data pipelines.

While companies are collecting treasure troves of information about their customers, they are increasingly looking for the right tools and technologies to gain a 360° view that is critical to leveraging the data's full value. Zak Pines, VP marketing, Bedrock Data, presented his session, "Overcoming Data Silos to Get a Unified View of Customers" on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 during Data Summit 2018.

The evolution of computing has changed dramatically since the mainframe was first introduced. Thanks to a proliferation of options for handling Big Data more naturally and efficiently than relational database management systems (RDBMS), we are in a "post-relational era." David Teplow, CEO, Integra Technology Consulting, presented his session, "SQL's Sequel: Hadoop and the Post-Relational Revolution" on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 during Data Summit 2018. His session deep dived into the best solutions to utilize during this "era."

Okera has launched out of stealth mode to address the gap in data management across heterogeneous data stores and formats. The company seeks to give data producers, consumers, and stewards a unified platform for unlocking the power of their data while not compromising on governance or compliance.

Violin Systems LLC, a provider of extreme-performance enterprise storage, has announced that information technology and services expert VDX has added the Violin Flash Storage Platform to its solutions portfolio. With the Violin Flash Storage Platform, the companies say, enterprises can transition from legacy storage solutions to enterprise-class, all-flash storage to achieve favorable CAPEX and OPEX scenarios.

Syncsort has announced new capabilities in MIMIX, a product line in its portfolio of high availability (HA) and disaster recovery software for IBM i. MIMIX addresses key IT challenges for assuring data and application availability. According to Syncsort, the new MIMIX release delivers faster replication to protect organizations' growing volumes of data and transactions, a streamlined GUI dashboard with visibility into key HA metrics for simplified management, and new features that help ensure applications can be switched to a recovery server at a moment's notice.

Nutanix, provider of enterprise cloud computing, has released Nutanix Flow, a software-defined networking (SDN) security solution built for the multi-cloud era. Flow provides application-centric security to protect against internal and external threats not detected by traditional perimeter-oriented security products. Flow capabilities are integrated into Nutanix's Acropolis software and will also be enhanced with real-time application visibility and discovery technology from the company's recent acquisition of Netsil.

NGINX will now support its NGINX Application Platform on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, allowing customer to better manage and scale their applications. Red Hat has emerged as a static provider of Linux, Linux containers, and Kubernetes as foundational technologies that provide applications with portability, enhanced security, and cloud-like efficiencies.

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., is making updates to its data infrastructure portfolio, including new AI-enhanced data center management software and an expanded lineup of flash storage systems designed to reach a broader range of customers. According to the company, the new systems and AI operations software deliver the agile data infrastructure and intelligent operations customers need to accelerate data center modernization efforts.